The Potion Gone Wrong
by Serafina
Summary: Harry makes a simple memory potion...that goes horribly wrong and brings a certain group of people 25 years into the future. Rating is for strong language in later chapters. Please Read/Review
1. Something Weird This Way Comes

The dungeon was cold, clammy, and altogether unpleasant

A/N: I'm putting this at the beginning to get it out of the way. This is a lighthearted story that I was writing at the same time as my other story _Hermione's Grief_ so that I wouldn't get too depressed while writing it. I hope you like this; please review it for me (I'll be eternally grateful!!!)

Disclaimer: Nothing here belongs to me, everything is the property of J.K Rowling, her publisher, and Warner Bros. Please don't sue me.

**********

The dungeon was cold, clammy, and altogether unpleasant. Harry was at the cauldron he was sharing with Ron, stirring his potion. Water dripped on the back of his neck as Snape came around to look at everyone's potion.

"Nicely done Draco; add a few more unicorn hairs Ms. Parkinson," Snape said as he walked through the Slytherin side of the room. Coming over to the tables where the Gryffindors were working, he was a lot less forgiving and helpful. "Stir harder Potter, you're going to be here all evening at that rate; Ms. Granger, stop doing everything for your partner, he'll buy you a new cauldron if he ruins it like he always does."

Harry and Ron glared at Snape's back. He had partnered Neville together with Hermione, having grown tired of 4 years of melted cauldrons and trips to Madam Pomfrey because of Neville. However, Snape still picked on Neville mercilessly. Harry doubted that Snape had ever said a nice word to Neville in the 5 years Neville had been studying at Hogwarts, especially not after that boggart incident.

Having finished critiquing everyone's potions, Snape returned to the front of the classroom. "Once everyone has finished stirring their potion and it has turned the proper shade of purple, it will be time to bottle them and let them sit outside. Can anyone tell me why we have to let these potions sit outside?"

Hermione's hand shot into the air, as usual, and, as usual, Snape ignored it. He called on Malfoy instead.

"These potions have to sit outside in the full moon light for one night so that the ingredients can be properly activated," Draco said smugly.

"Very nice, 5 points to Slytherin. Now, can anyone tell me what this potion will do once it is complete? Seamus, do you know the answer?"

"Umm, this is a, umm, Memoriam Potion and it will, uhh, help us remember?" Seamus guessed.

"Wrong, 5 points from Gryffindor. Please try to pay better attention in my class," Snape picked up a vial containing a purple soup-like potion. "This is a Memoriam Potion, it will help you remember a past experience, any experience, regardless of how young you were at the time. You will be able to remember anything, so long as you were conscious and awake when it occurred, even if a Memory Charm was put on you," Snape looked around the room. "Everyone, put your potion into your vial and seal it tightly and write your name on it with an Indelible-Marking Charm."

Harry and Ron poured some of their potion into their vials.

"Harry, how do we write our names on these?" Ron hissed into Harry's ear. Harry shrugged.

Hermione leaned over and grabbed both their vials, quickly writing their names on them without Snape seeing her. "With an Indelible-Marking Charm, we learned it last week in Charms class."

"Oh, of course," Harry replied, placing his vial in front of him.

Snape continued speaking. "As you leave, put your potion on my desk, I will be putting them outside this evening so that we can use them tomorrow. Your assignment for tomorrow is to write an essay on how to use the Memoriam Potion and decide what memory you want to have."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione shoved their books back into their bags and left the dungeon, trudging back to their House.

"Wow, Snape wasn't in that bad of a mood today. I wonder why?" Hermione remarked.

"Probably figured out a really good way to do Harry in," Ron said glumly.

"Ron!" Hermione said. "I'm sure Professor Snape is not trying to kill Harry."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that, Hermi, he's never forgiven me for 3rd year," Harry said, siding with Ron.

"Whatever, do either of you know what you want to remember?" Hermione said as they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Dazzling Dragons," the portrait swung open.

The three of them walked over to their favorite chairs by the fireplace.

"I'm not sure, I'm thinking about bouncing ferrets though," Ron said, pulling out his potions book.

"Honestly, Ron, don't you think that's a bit childish," Hermione said. "Besides, if Snape asks us what we remembered you'll lose points for Gryffindor for sure."

"Hermione's right, Ron, you ought to think of something else," Harry said. "What about you Hermione?"

"Oh, when I was little I think I saw some wizards when I was out at the zoo with my parents. There were these really weird people dressed in robes at the tiger cage and the little boy was asking something about magic to his parents. I asked my mum about them and she noticed them and we walked away, I think my mum thought they were loonies," Hermione explained, "I want to see if I can remember their faces, maybe it was someone whom I now know."

"Cool, Harry, do you know what you want?" Ron asked.

"Umm, sort of," Harry said quietly.

"What?" Hermione asked.

Harry mumbled something.

"Excuse me, I didn't hear that," Hermione said, leaning down to Harry and cupping her ear.

"Family, I want to remember anything from before my parents died, maybe something about Sirius too," Harry said, running his hands through his hair. "The only thing I know of my parents is from the Dementors."

"That's a very good idea Harry, it should do you good," Hermione said.

"I hope so," Harry replied, grinning. "I hope I remember something about Professor Lupin when he was younger, Sirius was talking about some girl named Leyla the other day and Lupin look ready to murder him, I wonder if I'll remember anything about whoever she is."

"Humph, that is remarkably childish, Harry," Hermione said.

"I know," Harry said.

**********

Later that evening, after Snape had put the potions on the greenhouse roof, two dark figures floated through the Hogwarts' gates on broomsticks.

"Master will be pleased," the bigger man said, his hood falling back to reveal silver blond hair.

"Yes, he will be," the fatter man said, his silver hand gripped his stick tightly. "What exactly are we doing?"

The blond man sighed, "if I have to explain this again to you," the man drew his finger across his throat. The fat man gulped nervously.

The blond man resumed speaking. "The Potter boy made a Memoriam Potion today, he will be using it tomorrow. What do you think he will try to remember?" Before the other man got a chance to respond, the blond man continued, "Potter will try to remember his family. Well, we are making a simple switch in potions, this potion will take him to whomever he wishes to see. It has been altered it a bit so that it will allow him time travel as well. If everything goes as planned, which I assure you it will, Potter will be taken back in time to his parents, whom he will undoubtedly try to warn about our Master's attack and your betrayal."

"So?" the fat man asked nervously.

"So, our Master will suffer a small defeat because the Potters will be ready for him and will possibly hold him off so that they remain alive, but he will never get the chance to try to curse the Potter boy and he will not suffer the, ah, 'temporary set-back' that he did 15 years ago. Do you understand or must I repeat myself?"

The fat man shook his head. The two men had reached the greenhouse where the potions were standing in the moon light. The blond man took a small vial out of the pocket in his robe and handed it to the fat man, who switched it with the vial labeled 'Harry Potter'.

"Perfect, now we just wait for the morning and our lives shall change for the better, Wormtail, Master will be proud of us."

The two men flew swiftly off into the night, their evil job completed.

**********

The next day in potions, Harry examined his vial with trepidation. Snape had just told them to drink the potion and concentrate hard on remembering what they wanted to remember. Ron's and Hermione's potions were a normal purple color, but his was a strange green color and kept giving off weird bubbles.

Harry was hesitant to ask Snape about it; all Snape would do anyway would be to make Harry drink the potion. He pinched his nose tightly and downed the potion in one gulp. Concentrating on his parents, Harry felt the potion work its way through his body, sending small shivers through him.

All around him, people were talking avidly about their memories, on his right, Hermione had realized that those people she had seen at zoo were none other than Seamus and his family; she was explaining the whole situation to him. On his left, Ron was recalling a particularly evil prank that his brother Bill had told him when Ron was still little.

Harry remembered nothing. He had no new memories, the potion had failed. The tingling had stopped a few seconds after he had drunk the potion and nothing else had happened.

"Hermione, Hermione," Harry tapped on her shoulder, "nothing happened, what should I do?"

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked. "You had the same batch as Ron and his worked, why wouldn't yours?"

"I dunno, maybe I wasn't concentrating hard enough, or maybe there's nothing to remember," Harry said.

"Don't be daft Harry, of course there's something to remember, you might not have been concentrating hard enough."

Just then, Snape's voice could be heard over the muddle of students. "I see everyone here has some new memories, your assignment for tonight is to write an essay about what you remembered. Class dismissed."

All the students stood up, still talking eagerly about their memories, everyone except Harry.

"Hey, Harry, did you remember who that Leyla girl is?" Ron asked once they were out of the classroom.

"No, my potion didn't work, Ron, what should I do?" Harry asked.

"Oh, make up the essay for tomorrow. I'm sure you can fudge something interesting."

"No, you will not lie in your essay Harry. Just explain that your potion didn't work," Hermione said.

"What, so Snape can take points off Gryffindor?" Ron replied.

"Shut up Ron, you're a bad influence on Harry. Besides, what do you think Snape will do if he realizes that your essay is a fake?" Hermione said.

"I'm not a bad influence on Harry," Ron said, insulted.

Harry sighed; Ron and Hermione continued bickering all the way to the portrait hole stopped only to say the password. As they entered the portrait hole, none of them heard the small pop behind them.

**********

__

25 years earlier

"Ow, my toe you big oaf," Remus said as Sirius stomped on his foot.

"Sorry Moony, there's not enough room under this cloak for all 5 of us," Sirius said as they crept along the hallway back to the dorms.

The Marauders had been out on another one of their adventures. It was the middle of the day and the Marurauders, plus Lily, all had been free. They had all hidden under the invisibility cloak and went to the Slytherin common room for some mischief. All the Slytherins were at class, so the room was empty and before any of them got back, the Marauders had already turned the entire common room upside down, using adhesion charms to stick the chairs and sofa to the ceiling.

"That was amazing, I wish we could see the look on their faces when they see our work," James said, his arm around Lily's shoulders.

"I dunno guys, what if one of them gets hurt by a falling chair," Peter asked.

"Then they get hurt!" Sirius said, clapping the smaller boy on his shoulder. "They're evil Slytherins, they deserve it."

"We ought to be more careful, we nearly got caught," Remus said, rubbing his sore toe. "Why are we waiting out here in the hallway for?"

"According to the map, Professor Dumbledore is coming around the corner," James said. "We need to wait until he passes for us to go into the common room. He'll get a little suspicious if he sees the portrait open for no reason."

Just then, all five of them were thrown violently backwards, hitting the stone wall hard.

"Ow god, that hurt," Remus moaned.

"You can say that again," Sirius said, as he adjusted the invisibility cloak to cover them all again.

"Lily, are you okay?" James said, putting his arm around her to support her.

"Yeah, I'm fine, sweetie," Lily said as she reached up to kiss him.

The other three stuck their fingers in their throats and pretended to gag. James kicked the closest one, who happened to be Peter.

"Hey, James, we're just having fun, no need to get violent," the small boy protested.

"Come on, the coast is clear," Remus picked up the Marauders Map, glancing at it briefly.

Shuffling awkwardly under the invisibility cloak, the 5 of them walked over to the common room.

"Pickled Pixies," James said quietly. The picture ignored him. "Pickled Pixies," James said it a bit louder.

"Hey, why won't it open?" Remus said.

Just then, the portrait hole opened to let out a boy about their age.

"Who's that?" Sirius said.

James stepped out of the cloak for a minute to ask the boy what the password was.

"Hey, you," James shouted at the boy, who turned around quickly.

"Harry? What are you doing out here? I just saw you inside," Neville asked, confused.

"Harry?" James said, equally confused.

"Umm, are you okay Harry? Do you want me to take you to Madam Pomfrey, you look kinda weird."

Sirius snorted under the cloak.

"Never mind that, just, uh, what's the password? I forgot it." James said, wondering what could have happened.

"Harry, why don't you come with me to Madam Pomfrey, I just saw you say the password less than 5 minutes ago," Neville said, coming over to James and grabbing his arm to drag him to the infirmary.

"Hey, leggo of my arm! Just tell me the password," James pulled his arm out of Neville's grasp.

"Whatever you say, Harry. The password is Dazzling Dragons," Neville, looked at James who was standing in the hallway, waving at him strangely. Neville shrugged it off and headed to the Library to finish his potions essay.

Once Neville was out of the way, James ducked back under the invisibility cloak.

"Okay," he said to 4 equally confused faces, "what the hell just happened?"


	2. Fair is Foul

"Whatever you say, Harry. The password is Dazzling Dragons," Neville, looked at James who was standing in the hallway, waving at him strangely. Neville shrugged it off and headed to the Library to finish his potions essay.

Once Neville was out of the way, James ducked back under the invisibility cloak.

"Okay," he said to 4 equally confused faces, "what the hell just happened?"

**********

"Harry? Who's Harry?" Sirius asked. The Marauders were sitting in the corner of the hallway hidden under the invisibility cloak. "And whoever the bloke is, why did that kid mistake him for you?"

"I have no clue," James said, "but does anyone think that he looks a bit like Frank?"

"Yeah, he does, but who is he, and where are we?" Remus said.

"I think we should wait here until whoever the students here are go down to dinner and then we can go into the common room and look around a bit," Lily, the voice of reason, said.

"Good idea, I second that," Remus, the second voice of reason, said.

The Marauders sat in the corner and waited for about an hour before the portrait swung open and the students piled out.

"Do any of you recognize any of them?" James asked.

"No, some of them look familiar, but…" Sirius said.

"Those look like Weasleys, but none I know of," Lily said, pointing to Fred and George.

The portrait door swung closed behind the last of the students and the Marauders stood up and walked over to it.

"Dazzling Dragons," James said quietly. The portrait swung open, revealing the Gryffindor common room.

"Everything _looks_ normal," Peter said.

The common room was empty except for three students in the corner by the fireplace.

Remus tapped James' shoulder. "Hey," Remus whispered, "I bet that's the Harry kid, he has the same hair as you."

"This is really weird," Sirius said. "Who the hell are they? James, you don't have any relatives you forgot to mention?"

"Of course not, Sirius," James said.

"Maybe we should just go over and ask them for some help," Lily suggested.

The Marauders walked quietly over to the group by the fire and listened to their conversation.

"Honestly, Harry, you can't lie in your Potions essay," the brown haired girl said.

"I was right, that is Harry," Remus whispered to James.

"Why not? It's not like I'm doing something wrong or anything," Harry replied. "Right Ron?"

"Right, Harry. Hermione, give him a break. It's not his fault his potion didn't work and its not fair for him to get in trouble because of it," Ron said.

"He must be a Weasley too," Lily whispered, mostly to herself.

Hermione threw her hands in the air. "Fine, whatever, but if you get in trouble it's not my fault."

"We knew you'd see the answer eventually, Hermione," Harry said.

Sirius nudged James. "We ought to show ourselves now, before anyone else comes, these kids seem trustworthy."

"Trustworthy? All we know is that they had one argument and since when are you a judge of trustworthiness," Peter said.

"Do you have any better suggestion, Peter?" Sirius said as he pulled off the invisibility cloak.

The Marauders walked up to Harry, Ron and Hermione who were now busy doing their homework.

"Excuse me," Lily said politely.

"Do any of you know where we are?" James asked politely as the three students on the rug turned to look at the Marauders. "We seem to be rather misplaced at the moment, could any of you help us?"

Harry, Ron and Hermione leapt to their feet, staring at the newcomers.

"Who…who…who are you?" Harry said.

"That big oaf over there is Sirius Black, the kid next to him with the glasses is Remus Lupin, the other kid is Peter Pettigrew, this beautiful lady next to me is Lily Evans, and I'm James Potter," James said with a flourish. "And who might you three be? You look awfully like me." James said, pointing at Harry, who was staring at James and Lily with his mouth hanging open.

"Well, umm, I'm Hermione Granger, that's Ron Weasley, and the kid with his mouth open is Harry," Hermione stuttered.

"Harry what?" Lily asked.

"Ummm, Harry Potter," Hermione said hesitantly.

"Potter?" Sirius said.

"Yeah, I'm Harry Potter. Are you really Ja..James and Lily?" Harry said.

"Of course, are you related to me? And where are we, I don't think I've ever heard of you before," James said. "Maybe Sirius was right. Are you on the Mugwump or Argus side of the family?"

"Well, umm, neither. I'm your son," Harry said, pointing at James and Lily.

Sirius, Remus and Peter fell over laughing hysterically. Lily and James stared at each other before jumping apart.

"Their…their…son!?" Sirius asked, holding his stomach and laughing.

"Umm, yeah, why?" Harry said.

"That means they get married," Peter said, starting to calm down.

Remus suddenly jumped up. "WAIT!!!!!" he shouted.

Everyone stared at him.

"If your their son, and you're 15, that means that we've time traveled or something," Remus said. "And if we've time traveled, this is very serious."

"Yes?" Sirius asked innocently. Lily hit the back of his head playfully.

"Stop it you two. What year is it?" Remus asked Hermione.

"2001, what year did you think it was?" Hermione asked.

The Marauders sobered up considerably. James motioned for everyone to sit down. Once everyone has taken a seat on the couches near the fireplace he began speaking.

"Okay, when I woke up this morning, it was 1973, now it's 2001. What the hell happened?" James asked.

"Well, it seems that we've time traveled somehow," Remus said, cleaning his glasses.

"How? Time travel doesn't just happen randomly," Peter said, obviously worried.

"Did anything weird happen to you today?" Hermione asked.

"Not really. We played a prank on the Slytherins," Sirius said.

"Hold on a minute. In the hallway, we all fell into the wall like we were pushed," Lily said, jumping out of her seat. "That could have been when we traveled, remember, that was really weird."

"Right, that's it," James said, pulling Lily back down. "What about you? Did anything weird happen?"

"Nothing, except…" Harry said.

"Except what?" Lily said.

"In potions we made a Memoriam Potion and mine didn't work, well, it seems that it did, but not really," Harry said.

Hermione and Ron nodded knowingly.

"You didn't change you wish, did you?" Hermione said with some trepidation.

Harry shook his head.

"Something is really horribly wrong then, you got what you wanted to remember, but this shouldn't have happened, something is totally screwed up," Ron said.

"But, this….time-travel, a Memoriam Potion would never have done this," Hermione said. "It must have been something else, unless Harry managed to make a rather powerful potion by accident."

"Couldn't be," Ron said. "We shared a pot, my potion would have been messed up too."

"Could someone explain please?" Remus asked. "Harry, what did you want to remember in the Memoriam Potion?"

"Uh," Harry said, glancing briefly at James and Lily. "Nothing."

Lily looked at Harry for a minute. "Nothing? It certainly doesn't seem like that. There's no need to lie."

Just then, they heard footsteps outside the portrait hole.

"Quick! Take the cloak and follow me," Hermione said, running to her dormitory.

**********

The Marauders crouched under a table in Hermione's dorm room hidden by the invisibility cloak. Hermione was sitting on her bed reading and trying to obstruct their view of Lavender and Parvati, who were changing into their pajamas. Sirius was trying to stretch his neck so that he could look over the top of Hermione's head; Remus and Peter were being a tad bit more subtle, but they were trying to look, nonetheless. James probably would have been, had Lily not been sitting on his lap, holding him down.

"Lily, ow, hey," Sirius said as Lily pulled Sirius back down to the floor.

"Sit down, stop ogling those girls, they have no clue you're here," Lily said. "Plus, if you stand up any more you're going to knock down the books over our heads."

Lavender and Parvati had finished changing and were getting into their beds, snuffing the candles on their nightables.

"Hermione," Parvati called out, "Are you going to bed?"

"Or do you need to do more reading?" Lavender finished the sentence for Parvati.

"No, I'll just be getting into bed now," Hermione said. "Oh, darn, I left my socks on that table over there, I'll just go get them, you can snuff the candles, don't worry."

Hermione walked over to the table under which the Marauders were sitting. She rummaged through the books on top of it, seemingly accidentally dropping a piece of parchment under the table. Remus stuck out a hand to get the parchment, which read:

_Take your Marauder's Map with you and go sleep in the tunnel behind the one-humped witch. Meet us in Harry's room during breakfast tomorrow morning, we'll bring you some food._

-Hermione-

**********

The next day during breakfast, Harry, Hermione, and Ron were sneaking back to their common room to give the Marauders some food.

"This is so…so…wow," Harry said.

"I know, they're your parents and they're…you know," Hermione said.

"What? They're here? They're our age? They're alive?" Harry asked.

"Well, all 3," Hermione said.

"Why though? Why did they come?" Ron asked.

"We don't know," Hermione said, "but they should be going soon, as soon as we can figure out how."

"We should go to Dumbledore," Ron said.

"Ron? What's happened to you?" Harry said. "You're starting to sound like Hermione!"

"Oh, that hurt. I've been seriously insulted. But really, it's just, well, time travel is really powerful and to bring them all this way here, that must have taken a lot of powerful magic," Ron said. "And with what happened last year at the, uh, Tournament, this visit might not be a good thing."

"I agree, but I don't want to go to Dumbledore yet, maybe in a few days," Harry said with a detached expression on his face. "I never got those memories, but I got something better."

Hermione and Ron exchanged glances, a look of concern on both their faces.

They had reached the portrait hole; Harry said the password and they went inside, heading up to Harry and Ron's dorm where the Marauders ought to be waiting for them. Sure enough, the door was open slightly and there was a shaggy black dog sitting on the floor. When the three of them walked in, the dog changed back into Sirius.

"Hey, Sirius, good morning," Harry said, "they had waffles for breakfast today."

Everyone sat on the floor in a circle with the food in the center. Harry locked the door and put a Silencing Charm up so that no one could hear what they were saying.

"Professor, could you pass the syrup," Hermione asked Remus absentmindedly. He didn't respond. "Hey, pass the syrup."

"Did you just call Remus, Professor?" Sirius asked, turning to Hermione with one eyebrow raised.

"Uh," Hermione said, looking nervous.

"That's great! Not much of a surprise but… what subject?" Sirius said, clapping his hands together.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts," Ron said, "best we've ever had!"

"Do I still teach here?" Remus asked, sounding amused.

"Not exactly," Harry said. "Something happened at the end of the year when you were teaching us and Snape told everyone you were a werewolf."

"Snape?" Sirius said, "don't tell me that slimy haired git is teaching here too."

"Actually, he is, teaching Potions, he hates all of us," Ron said.

"Wait, wait, back to me," Remus said, jabbing his fork at Sirius. "What happened that made Snape tell everyone about me? And how do you all know I'm a werewolf?"

"Don't act all nervous Moony, I probably told him, he is my son you know," Lily said, staring at Harry, who moved uncomfortably. "After all, he knows about the Animagus thing."

"Stop changing the subject," Remus said. "Tell me what happened."

"I don't think that would be such a good idea," Hermione said. "It's not really, well, we can't tell you."

"Why not?" Remus asked, annoyed.

"Because, then we'd have to tell you too much about you future and you might try to change it," Hermione explained.

Harry cut in. "Hermione's right, we really can't tell you yet, it will take too much explaining."

"You've got a point," Remus thoughtfully. "Okay, I won't ask anymore, don't worry, I'm not going to pester you."

They sat for a moment chewing on their waffles. Sirius reached up to get some orange juice when he saw Harry looking right at him.

"Hey, Harry, where'd you get the scar?" Sirius asked, pointing at Harry's forehead. "Looks kinda nasty, what happened? Did you fall off a broomstick or something? James was probably teaching you some Seeker trick. That would be so like him to permanently disfigure his son in the name of Quidditch," Sirius chuckled, looking at James, who tried to look annoyed.

Harry turned rather white as he looked at James and Lily and heard Sirius' question. There was a moment or two of silence. Hermione's eyes began to water as she look at Lily; Ron glared at Peter, and Harry looked at his father, James.

"That's also something we shouldn't be explaining now," Hermione said, her voice quavering, "it's rather more serious than a fall off a broomstick."

"What happened?" Sirius said. "You're only 15, what could really have happened that's all that bad?"

Harry just stared at Sirius before jumping off the floor and running out of the room. Ron and Hermione followed him, slamming the door behind them.

The Marauders looked at each other for a moment.

"Something's up," James said. "There's something really major that none of them have mentioned to us, something that they try to avoid mentioning."

"Right," Lily said. "Hermione keeps looking at me and trying not to cry."

"I agree," Peter spoke up. "All three of them, especially that Weasley kid, glare at me, like, like, I don't know, Iike I've stabbed them in the back or something. It's the creepiest feeling."

"And have any of you noticed that there are no photos of any of us in Harry's room," James said. "All the other kids have pictures from when they were younger, except Harry."

"Something is most definitely not right. I'm almost positive Hermione called me Snuffles," Sirius added.

"Snuffles?" Remus said. "Why would they call you Snuffles?"

Sirius shrugged.

"Anyway, something's up here, there isn't much we can do besides ask them about it," James said, waving his wand to clear the dishes off the floor and hide them behind a tapestry "I think Harry was running towards Hermione's dorm room, let's follow them and ask them, hey, you never know, they might even tell us what happens to us when we grow up."

**********

A/N: Thanks to all those who have reviewed this story so far; it really encourages me to write the chapters quickly. To all those who haven't reviewed this story yet, please do so, I love getting reviews. I hope you've enjoyed this; I do try my best.


	3. And Foul is Fair

The Marauders crept through the deserted common room, approaching the voices that they heard shouting at each other

The Marauders crept through the deserted common room, approaching the voices that they heard shouting at each other. Even from across the common room, they could hear the argument that was going on between Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

Climbing the stairs that led to the girls side, they could begin to make out specific words from they argument, but only when the reached to door that led to the 5th year girl's dorm could they hear the entire argument.

Peter moved to open the door, but James held him back. "I want to hear what they'll yelling about, it might be about what they're not telling us," James explained, putting his head up to the door. The other four followed his example; they could now hear perfectly.

**********

Harry was standing on Hermione's trunk, yelling at Ron and Hermione.

"Why can't we tell them? For gods sake, we could save their lives!" Harry shouted.

"No Harry, you can't tell them anything, we shouldn't even have told them that Remus was a Professor here!" Hermione said, pacing back and forth on her floor.

"Why not? What harm could it possibly do?" Harry shouted back.

"You can't just mess with time like that, Harry. Even saving Sirius in our 3rd year was a little iffy and that was only a 3 hour leap. A 25 year leap…" Hermione ran her hands through her hair. "Harry, you'd be rewriting history."

"Hermione's right, Harry, Lily and James died," Ron said. "You can't change that, it's just, sad as it might be, well, it's life."

"But, we could make them not die, we could even save Sirius," Harry shouted at them.

Ron went over to Harry and grabbed his shoulders. "Listen to me Harry, we cannot tell them anything, this afternoon we should go to Dumbledore and tell him what happened."

Harry shoved Ron away from his, sending him flying backwards onto Hermione's bed. "Shut up, both of you. You have no fucking idea what it's like to be a bloody orphan, what it's like to live with people who hate you." Harry's voice was nearly cracking. "I lived the first eleven years of my life locking in a broom closet because of my fucking 'abnormality'." Harry jumped off Hermione trunk and paced over to the door. "You all laugh about my blowing up Aunt Marge, but it's not funny sitting at dinner listening to your bloody aunt rag on about how your parents were unemployed alcoholics who deserved what they got."

Hermione was nearly crying. Harry continued. "A car crash! A fucking car crash! That's what I thought happened to my parents for the first 11 years of my life. Do you have any idea what it's like? Neither of you understands, you both have happy families." Harry threw open Hermione's trunk and began rummaging around.

Harry stood up and shoved a purple photo album in Hermione's face. "Look at these pictures; Hermione at the beach; Hermione at the fair; Hermione with her parents. The only picture I have of my parents is their wedding. Do you get it? I could save their lives; you're trying to sentence them to death. For god's sake, what's wrong with you two?"

Ron grabbed Harry's robes and spun him around so that the two boys were eye to eye. "Listen to me Harry, stop being such a selfish jerk and listen to Hermione and I. History worked out pretty damn well. If you tell Lily and James about what happens then Voldemort will never be able to attack you!"

''Right, that's the whole fucking point, Ron. MY PARENTS WON'T DIE!" Harry shouted in Ron's face.

"Right, but then neither will Voldemort and then even more people will die, maybe your parents will be killed later, maybe you won't survive that time Harry," Ron shouted right back at Harry.

Harry seemed to sag under Ron's glare. Harry's eyes began to water; he cradled his head in hands, wiping away the tears that were forming.

Hermione cut in. "What exactly are you planning on telling them, Harry? Are you just going to walk up to them and be like 'Hi Lily and James, nice to meet you, I never have before because you were murdered when I was one. By whom? Oh, by Voldemort, with the help of your friend Peter who turned into a traitor. But, Sirius, everyone thought it was your fault, so you spent 12 years in Azkaban while Peter hid as Ron's pet rat. Don't worry, though, you escaped, but then Remus found you and now you're living in a cave hiding from Fudge. Remus, I'm not quite sure what happened to you, except that when you came to teach here, you were nearly starving and whenever we ask you what you were doing, you change the topic. Oh yeah, and last year Voldemort came back to life with the help of Peter here, killing a student in the process and trying to kill Harry himself.'" Hermione pulled up Harry's head and looked into his eyes. "You'll either make them think you're insane, or they'll go insane and do something stupid, like kill Peter."

Harry started crying. "Fine, you're right. It's just….so weird to finally meet my parents and know they're going to die and to meet Sirius and know that he'll spend most of his life in prison and to meet Peter and know he'll become a murderer." Harry took a few deep breaths. "I promise I won't tell them; you have my word."

Hermione hugged Harry tightly. "I'm proud of you Harry, it's hard not to tell them myself and they're not even my parents. But come now, we should go speak to Dumbledore about sending them home before they catch onto anything and figure anything out. They are all very smart, they're going to realize something is up sooner or later."

Harry stood up, going to Hermione's mirror to tidy himself up a bit. Then all the three of them looked at each other.

"We're going to Dumbledore now," Hermione said.

"This is the final decision," Harry said.

"Well, we ought to go," Ron added.

"Soon," Harry said.

"Now," Hermione finished. She grabbed both their hands and walked to the door, throwing it open, revealing 5 tearstained faces staring right at them.

"Is..Is..Is that all true?" Lily asked, the tears running down her face. Even Sirius was crying.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other in panic before pulling the five of them into Hermione's room and locking the door.

"What did you hear?" Hermione asked, trying to keep the panic out of her voice.

"Everything," answered James.

"Oh," Hermione sat down next to Ron and Harry who were trying not to become hysterical.

They sat on the floor for 15 minutes while the Marauders calmed down.

"Is that all true?" Lily asked. "Does all that really happen to us?"

Harry nodded glumly. "I suppose if you've already heard everything, we can try to explain, it can't do much harm at this point in the game."

Hermione and Ron nodded in agreement. "Well, start the questions."

"Why do I murder Lily and James?" Peter asked. "What in the world would make me do that?"

"Urm, no one knows really. You were their secret keeper to protect them from Voldemort but you were actually working for him all along and you told him where to find them. He went to their house and.." Harry trailed off.

"What's this whole thing about Azakaban then? If you said it was Peter's fault." Sirius asked.

"Well, you see, everyone though you were the secret keeper so they arrested you," Hermione explained. "Plus, Peter framed you and make everyone also think you killed him and 13 Muggles."

Lily spoke up. "What happened to you, Harry?"

"I live with the Dursley's, Petunia and Vernon."

"You live with my horrid sister? Why would that happen?"

"Dumbledore thought it would be best if I lived in the Muggle world so that I wouldn't become egotistical."

"Egotistical?" James asked.

"Yeah, when Voldemort attacked you he tried to attack me as well, but it didn't work and the curse backfired," Harry stared at his hands. "That's where I got that scar from."

"I see," James said, his voice cracking. He wrapped his arms around Lily, who had started crying again.

There were voices outside the door. It was Lavender and Parvati.

"Hey, Hermione, open the door. Come on, open up. Why did you lock the door?" Lavender knocked loudly. "If you and Harry are doing anything, stop it and open the door. I promise not to tell anyone."

"Come on, get on my bed now," Hermione hissed. The Marauders and Ron jumped onto Hermione's bed, pulling the curtains around them. Sirius had his hand over Peter's mouth to muffle his crying.

Hermione undid her hair and mussed up her robes. Then she grabbed a stick of lipstick from her nightstand and put it on her lips. Not bothering to make it even, she grabbed Harry and kissed him firmly on his cheek, leaving a smudge of pink.

"Hey, what was that for?" Harry asked, shocked.

"We need some excuse for the door to be locked," Hermione said as she unlocked and opened the door. Lavender came in, looking knowingly at Harry, her eyes spotting the lipstick on his cheek.

"I'm not even going to ask what you were doing that took so long for you to get the door open," Lavender said as she dumped her books on her bed and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door tightly behind her.

A muffled laugh escaped from the bed; it sounded like Ron.

Hermione threw back the curtains and handed them the Invisibility cloak which Harry had left in her room after their last nighttime excursion.

"Come on, pull yourselves together," Hermione said, helping Lily off the bed. "We're going to Dumbledore.

**********

Harry knocked on the gargoyle that led to Dumbledore's office. After a few moments, Professor McGonagall opened the door, saw the three of them standing there, the other 5 still under the protection of the cloak. McGonagall motioned for them to come in.

Harry could hear voices downstairs. They sounded like Remus and Sirius. Hermione and Ron must have realized the same thing, because their eyes opened wide once they heard the voices.

"Oh god, could this get any worse?" Harry mumbled to himself.

Just then, Snape's voice could be heard, arguing with whatever Sirius had just said.

Harry groaned.

They could hear Dumbledore stand up from his desk. The door to his office opened and Dumbledore invited them in. Harry, Ron and Hermione came into the office and stood uncomfortably by the door.

"You 5 can come in as well," Dumbledore said to the air behind them. Harry remembered that Dumbledore could see through invisibility cloaks. "Severus, if you could leave us for a moments. You can return to your office, we can finish this conversation later."

Snape stood up with a huff and stormed out of the office.

"Alright Harry, what did you do this time? God, you three are in here more times than I was," Sirius said, his mouth frowning but his eyes twinkling.

"And between us, that's saying something," Remus added.

"What…what….why are you two here?" Ron asked, his eyes darting around nervously.

"Oh, we finished the task the Dumbledore gave us and we were discussing it with Snape, as you probably heard," Sirius said. "Still hates me, doesn't he Albus?"

"Of course," Dumbledore said with a sigh. "But I don't think that is what you 8 came here to speak to me about. I for one would like an explanation for this. This is a rather remarkable occurance."

"Excuse me, Professor," Remus said, "but there are only 3 people there."

"Umm, not really," Harry said. "Professor, does having two of them in this room at once cause any trouble?"

"No, it shouldn't," Dumbledore said. "I don't see why it would."

"Two of us?" Sirius said.

"Perhaps Mr. Potter would like to explain this," Dumbledore saidm his brow furrowing. "I am finding myself at a loss for an explanation. No, don't worry Harry, I know that whatever happened isn't your fault, you are not going to be punished."

Hermione pulled off the invisibility cloak, revealing the Marauders.

Sirius and Remus stared at the Marauders in disbelief, their mouths hanging open.

"Well, you see," Harry began.

"What Harry is trying to say is that somehow you two plus James, Lily and Peter, managed to time travel to our time yesterday," Hermione said, "and we had a little mishap and we all need help."

"Desperately," James added.

"Most definitely," Peter added.

"You..you..rat!" Sirius stood up from his chair, his eyes flashing dangerously. He moved towards Peter, who had jumped behind the young Remus.

"Sirius," Dumbledore said. "Sit down this moment."

Sirius complied, but kept glaring at Peter who was cowering behind young Remus.

"Sirius Black, have you lost your mind?" Dumbledore was glaring at Sirius. "Peter has no idea what happened. None of them do."

"Actually, Professor, we do know," Lily said. "They were having an argument in their dorm and we were eavesdropping. That's why we came to you."

Dumbledore took his glasses off his face and wiped them with his beard. "Oh dear," he said. "You 5 heard everything about your future."

They all nodded.

"What should we do Albus?" Professor Lupin asked. "How did they get here to begin with?"

Harry spoke up. "We aren't sure, but something went wrong with a potion I made the other day, it was supposed to be a Memoriam Potion and I was wishing for memories of my family, but they came here instead."

"What did the potion look like, Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"Well, it was supposed to be purple, but it was green and bubbly instead."

"Ah, I think I understand what happened," Dumbledore said. "Somehow your potion must have been switched to a Travel Potion that had probably been altered to allow for time travel."

"How could I have done that? I followed the directions exactly. Ron had the same batch as me and his worked fine," Harry said.

"Calm down, Harry. Someone must have switched the potions."

"Who? If Snape did that I'll…" Harry said.

"Professor Snape did nothing of the sort, Harry. I am inclined to think it was a pair of Death Eaters. I received reports from my sources that two were seen in Hogsmeade."

"Which two?" Sirius asked.

"I am not sure about this, but my sources described them as looking like Lucius Malfoy and Wormtail," Dumbledore said.

Peter squeaked. "Me? Why am I doing this all? I don't want to do this!"

Dumbledore looked at Peter carefully. "Peter, I am honestly not sure why you change your mind when you grow up."

"How do we know he's not lying?" Sirius demanded.

"Calm down Sirius," Dumbledore said, pushing a glass of water in his direction. "I have various lie detectors in my office and none of them have gone off.  
Sirius looked unconvinced.

"But, Professor, why would they do that? It doesn't seem very evil," Ron asked.

"I assume that they wanted to have happen what just happened," Dumbledore responded.

"Excuse me?" Hermione asked.

"They wanted Harry and you both to tell Lily and James about what will happen, I assume, so that Peter will not change and Voldemort will never attack Harry, thus never dying," Dumbledore said.

"But, Professor, now that we know, doesn't that mean they succeeded?" James asked.

"Not at all, young James, not at all," Dumbledore said. " A simple memory charm should do the trick."

"Wait a minute, make it so that the charm will wear off tomorrow," Professor Lupin said. "I like to have my memory normal, thank you very much."

"Good idea Remus, now, how best to do this?" Dumbledore stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Ahh, yes, that's it."

"What's it Professor?" Harry asked.

"I am going to need you 5 to leave the room." The Marauders started to leave. "No, not you 5, the other 5," Dumbledore said. Sirius, Remus, Harry, Ron, and Hermione got up to leave.

"Wait a minute, Professor," Lily said. "May James and I speak with Harry for a moment please?"

"Certainly Ms. Evans, take your time."

Lily, James and Harry went over to the corner of Dumbledore's office.

"Harry, this is the last time we will be seeing each other, and well, we'll miss you," James said, embracing his son. It was a rather funny sight, as they were both the same age.

"You are certainly a nice young man, we would have been proud of you," Lily said. Harry shifted uncomfortably; he had never had a mother compliment him, except Molly, and currently Lily looked a lot different from Molly.

"And your friends are wonderful," James added.

"Try to…to…go on, don't dwell on this, Harry, just know that wherever we are now, we are very proud of you," Lily said, giving her son one last hug and a small kiss on his forehead. Harry felt her slip something into his pocket.

James patted Harry on his shoulder, smiling at him. His smile looked eerily like Harry's.

"We're ready to go, Professor," James said to Dumbledore. Sirius, Peter, and Remus nodded.

Harry left the room, trying not to cry. From behind him, he could hear Dumbledore saying the proper spells. A yellow flash came from under the door, followed soon by a green one.

Dumbledore opened the door; his office was empty. The five people who had been standing in the hallway came into the room. Everyone was rather subdued.

"That was an admirable decision on all of your parts," Dumbledore said. "It shows a remarkable sense of maturity in all of you."

Dumbledore was saying something else, but Harry wasn't listening. He was too focused on what Lily had put in his pocket. It was a gold locket, inside of which was two photos, one of her and one of James.

Sirius looked over Harry's shoulder to see what was in Harry's hand. Seeing the locket, Sirius began to chuckle.

"What's so funny, that's my mum's locket," Harry said, holding onto it tightly.

"Oh nothing," Remus said, prying open Harry's hand and taking the locket and examining it. "It's just that Lily had that necklace until she was in her 6th year, but then she lost it one night. She never remembered what had happened to it, all she could remember was that she had given it to the only boy she loved as much as James. I think I just figured out who that boy was."

**********

A/N: This is the conclusion of this series. I know that it is really short, but this is the logical conclusion of the story so here is the ending. Thanks to all those who reviewed; you know who you are. -Serafina (feel free to e-mail me at SmallSarah@aol.com with questions or comments).


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